Description

Copyright 2003

Pages: 256

Edition: 1st

eBook (Watermarked)

ISBN-10: 0-13-204463-3

ISBN-13: 978-0-13-204463-9

This book gives an optimistic and disturbing view of the outlook for economic well-being in the world. It argues that a new economic mechanism is at work that is making people everywhere better off. It also argues that improvements in living standards will reach the people who are now the poorest, even if they are living in remote areas. The new economic mechanism is securitization. It works synergistically with other mechanisms driving economic progress, and under the proper circumstances can accelerate economic progress.

Sample Content

Table of Contents

Preface.

1. A New Force and the Race to Harness It.

Securitization. Does Securitization Create Value? National Financial Systems. National Financial Systems as Engines of Growth. Asset Booms Contrasted with Bubbles. A Fully Securitized Country Contrasted with a Completely Unsecuritized Country. Implementing a Finance-Driven Growth Strategy. Competition to Harness the Power of Securitization. Origins of the Pressure to Harness the New Force. Favorable Conditions for the Securitization-Driven Growth Strategy.

2. An Idea Germinates.

A Belief Grounded in Early Experiences. The Campaign to Raise Market Values Gets Underway.

3. Three Booms and How They Ended.

4. Financial Assets: Catalysts of World Prosperity.

Shining the Spotlight on Financial Infrastructure. Growth Pattern of United States Financial Wealth 1960-1980. Growth of U.S. Financial Wealth Takes Off. 1980-2000. Conclusion.

5. Three Defective National Financial Systems and Attributes of a Better One.

The Era of Financial Assets Begins. Built to Fall Down. Two Tasks. Deliver Us from Temptation. Transmitting Pressure to Perform. Conclusion.

6. Is It Workable for Everyone to Invest in the United States?

Yields on U.S. Financial Investments Take Off. Priorities Shift to Raising Returns on Financial Assets. Americans Raise Their Aspirations. The New Mechanism for Creating Wealth in the United States. An Upper Limit to the Financial Wealth-Creation Process in the United States? Breaking the Upper Limit to the Financial Wealth Creation Process. Emerging Countries as Sources of Raw Material for Securitization. Reforming National Financial Systems in the Emerging Countries. Conclusion and Implications.

The Controversy: Slowdown to Zero Population Growth? Implications of the Population Slowdown. Causes of the Slowdown. Scenarios of Population and Wealth.

9. Rising Wealth and the Impending Labor Shortage.

Wealth and Demand for Services. Spending from Wealth. Prospects for a U.S. Labor Shortage. The Distribution of Wealth and the Propensity to Spend New Wealth. Spending from Wealth and Job Creation. An Impending Labor Shortage, Or a Mirage? Conclusion.

10. Wealth Concentration and Diffusion.

Improvement in the Distribution of Income. A New Role for Poor People in the World Economy. The New Symbiotic Relationship between Rich Countries and Poor Countries. Details and Difficulties of the Symbiotic Relationship. Implementing the Proposed Solution. The Coming Shortage of Buyers in the Rich Countries. Savers in Poor Countries Rescue Rich Retirees? International Diversification for Everyone. The Main Prosperity Diffusion Scenario. Feasibility of the Main Prosperity Diffusion Scenario. A More Grandiose Prosperity Diffusion Scenario. Conclusion.